DETROIT — The Detroit Lions thought the bye week, and the 15-point victory over an NFC contender that preceded it, would be a jumping-off point.
But it instead proved to be a tripwire, their faces bouncing off the ground in Sunday’s 27-24 loss to the Minnesota Vikings before their minds could fully register what had gotten them there.
Offensively, perhaps we underestimated the roles of former center Frank Ragnow and offensive coordinator Ben Johnson in the team’s success against a Vikings’ defense led by coordinator Brian Flores. Lions coach Dan Campbell said Flores didn’t present Detroit’s offense with anything it hadn’t seen before, outside of the few wrinkles that are typically added.
If this performance was a one-off, perhaps we’d be inclined to give them the benefit of the doubt. The Vikings’ exotic pass rush took advantage of an inexperienced and banged-up offensive line after getting back their most impactful defender (outside linebacker Andrew Van Ginkel), and Detroit’s running backs, particularly Jahmyr Gibbs (seven pressures allowed), couldn’t handle it.
Sometimes, that’s all there is to the story. But the reason it felt so devastating is that, much like the Week 1 loss to Green Bay, all of the fanbase’s worst fears about what could squash this team’s dreams were put on display. The Lions’ offense hasn’t looked or felt the same all season, even when the scoreboard has indicated otherwise.
It’s not that the Lions’ offense has been outright bad, per se — they’re third in the NFL in points per game (29.9) and 11th in yards (350.8) — so much as it has been extremely poor in critical areas and inconsistent on an individual level at their most important position: Offensive line.
After all three of the Lions’ losses this season, Campbell and the offense have referred to communication issues as a disruptor.
“I think we just need to do a better job of really making our point about communication of how it’s gonna go (when we’re) out on the practice field,” Campbell said. “Let’s just make sure that we’re all on the same page as coaches, and then the players are, and then they’ve got to hold each other accountable, too.
“It’s really that simple. It really is. It does take all of us, and we all have to be on the same page, and really, we’ve been pretty good, but it did. (The communication issues) caught us a couple of times (Sunday).”
Due to a strong collection of offensive talent, they’ve been able to stay afloat in most games. But in high-leverage spots against quality opponents, they’ve been inconsistent at best and downright awful at worst.
The Lions’ third-down efficiency has now dropped to 25th league-wide after going 5-for-17 in Sunday’s loss. Quarterback Jared Goff is getting sacked at the 12th-highest rate in the league (7% of dropbacks). They rank 25th in rushing success rate (39.6%) and 24th in explosive runs.
Neither Lions running back, Gibbs nor David Montgomery, has strung together two really strong games this season. And when one has faltered, the other hasn’t necessarily picked up the slack. In a combined 16 opportunities, one of them has individually surpassed 100 rushing yards in a game just twice this season. Montgomery has rushed for 60-plus yards just twice.
And because of that, their play-action game — another important element of Detroit’s offense — hasn’t fooled anyone.
That problem will only be magnified with left guard Christian Mahogany set to miss significant time, and Taylor Decker and Penei Sewell now are dealing with injuries that could keep them out of next week’s game against the Commanders.
And the rushing “problem” hasn’t really been acknowledged by offensive coordinator John Morton.
“I think we’ve been pretty efficient as of late,” Morton said Thursday when asked about the run game, noting the Lions’ big runs against Tampa Bay — decidedly not the mark of an efficient run game. Morton went on to say that the team faces a loaded box more than most teams, which is fair. After Week 9, the Lions’ rushing offense faces the fourth-highest stacked box rate (34.8%) in the league.
But shouldn’t that mean the team’s prolific passing offense should be able to find an advantage elsewhere on the field? The Lions are currently struggling to find areas of the game to dictate when things are going poorly, which has prevented them from climbing back in each one of their losses.
And when things were going right Sunday, they almost immediately shot themselves in the foot with poor discipline.
Just before the Vikings blocked a field goal to essentially seal the game, the Lions were in the red zone, first-and-10, down seven. Then the pass rush forced Goff into an incompletion, a second-down Gibbs run went for just 1 yard, and then Decker was flagged for a false start, rendering the third-down pickup even more difficult as Goff was sacked by Jalen Redmond for a loss of 9 yards, ending the drive.
“Sometimes, you get in a rough spot, and normally we get ourselves out of it. You hit a rough patch in a game — no different than a season, right? — and you’ve just gotta get out of it,” Campbell said.
“And it swelled up a little bit on us. It kind of — one thing compounded into the next error, and then we start looking for things that aren’t there. … We never really got in a true rhythm.”
Football players
Detroit Lions running back David Montgomery (5) avoids a tackle by Minnesota Vikings cornerback Byron Murphy (7) during the first half of an NFL football game Sunday, Nov. 2, 2025, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)
Those prolific 31-point outbursts against Minnesota last season were extremely difficult to achieve. Detroit trailed 10-0 at U.S. Bank Stadium in Week 7 before the offense found a pulse. And it’s easy to forget the Lions were in a similar boat in the Week 18 finale, leading just 10-9 late into the third quarter before Gibbs exploded for his second, third and fourth touchdowns. They weathered the storm and came alive.
Despite ultimately scoring 24 points Sunday, I don’t necessarily think they get credit for doing the same. The Lions’ last touchdown came on a shot to Jameson Williams down the sideline with 1:55 remaining in a 10-point game, which I don’t think they would have done under normal circumstances, and their only other second-half score — a 41-yard field goal from kicker Jake Bates — ended an 11-play drive that traveled just 38 yards.
The other two scores both came on fourth down, providing further evidence that the Lions were actually somewhat fortunate to score the points they did.
Admittedly, this is a reversal of my tone from Week 7, when the Lions brushed off Tampa Bay. I believed that performance — particularly on the ground — was an indication of the team finding its identity and preparing to launch for the rest of the season. That has been the case at each of the Lions’ bye weeks the last two seasons.
If I have one big takeaway from Sunday’s loss — be it regarding how they’ll show up in divisional games, or how they’ll respond to Flores’ exotic blitz packages, or the timeline for figuring out offensive woes — it’s that the 2023 and 2024 Detroit Lions tell us nothing about this team in 2025.
NFC North tightens up
Sunday’s results around the NFC North tightened a competitive division race. The top two teams (Packers and Lions, respectively) fell while the bottom two teams (Bears, Vikings) picked up victories, and the four teams are now separated by just 1½ games.
The Lions are now 1-2 against the division with three games remaining, a stark contrast to the flawless 6-0 record that guided Detroit to its second straight NFC North title in 2024.
And the back half of this season is going to be an all-out war: The Packers have five divisional matchups in their last seven games, including a trip to Detroit on Thanksgiving; the Bears and Vikings each have four divisional games left, while the Lions have three, including two in Weeks 17 (at Minnesota) and 18 (at Chicago).
Buckle up, because the race is only beginning.
Defense holds its own
While the Lions’ offense was worse than the score indicated, one could argue the opposite can be said for the Lions’ defense. The Lions’ run defense was poor, no doubt: It allowed five explosive runs, tied for the most all season, and gave up a season-high 142 rushing yards.
But the passing defense, despite allowing 27 points against a quarterback making his third career start, was a little bit better than it appeared on the surface. And it culminated in just 258 total yards of offense, the third-fewest allowed by Detroit this season.
Quarterback J.J. McCarthy’s 116 net passing yards were the fewest allowed by Detroit in a game this season, and Detroit’s pressure rate of 58.1% was its best of the season — as was the Lions’ sack rate (16.1%). Aidan Hutchinson had a team-high seven pressures, Al-Quadin Muhammad had four and Jack Campbell had three.
Though some are still hoping the Lions add an edge rusher at the deadline, that seems unlikely. The Lions, frankly, have far bigger problems than their pass rush, which ranks fifth in pressure rate (39.5%) and fourth in sack rate (9.1%).